Living Dublin

Dublin's Bookshops

Dubliners love their books, and a favourite lazy Sunday or rainy day pastime has always been to browse the many bookshops of the city in search of a bargain.

The best place to start is around Dawson Street and Nassau Street and into Grafton Street, where you'll find many of the selection below.

Big, Comprehensive Book Stores

Easons have for many years been Ireland's main bookshop, stationers and newspaper and magazine distributors. Similar to W. H. Smith in the UK, you'll find them on O'Connell Street and on the corner of Nassau St and Dawson St.

Waterstones. Their Dublin branch is on Dawson St, a few doors down from Easons.

Hodges Figgis. Now part of the Dillons chain, this historic business is across the road from Waterstones on Dawson Street, giving three major stores within a well-aimed ink pellet's range of each other.

Hughes & Hughes. A new Irish chain with an excellent shop in the Stephens Green Shopping Centre, and several others elsewhere (usually in shopping centres).

Discount Bookshops

Chapters, Middle Abbey Street. A huge discount and second-hand shop with a wide selection of remainder books. Great for browsing.

Reads, Nassau Street. A newsagents/stationers with a select line of best-sellers and Irish interest books at loss-leader prices. As part of an ongoing price war they've been waging on Easons, they're also the cheapest place in the city for magazines.

Second-Hand and Specialist Bookshops

There are many good second-hand bookshops around the city, many of which come and go overnight. (As proof of this, I was going to include the one on George's Street, but when I went to check its name I found it was no longer there.) Here are some that have been around for a while:

Greene's on Clare Street. Just opposite the Mont Clare Hotel, this used to be the place to buy your schoolbooks, causing crushing queues in September. There is a quirky mix of new and second-hand stock, with an emphasis on Irish history, and there's even a post-office in the shop.

The Secret Book and Record Store, Wicklow Street. You'll need to keep your eyes open to find this one. Pass Tower Records walking away from Grafton Street and not far on you'll see an open doorway. There's usually a blackboard pointing you down a narrow passage and into the shop. A good stock of "quality" literature and non-fiction (not generally pulp bestsellers or airport fiction); this one is also recommended highly to vinyl collectors.

Cathach Books, Duke St. A superb family-run antiquarian bookshop that's been around as long as I can remember. Again, they have a particular emphasis on works of Irish interest, including a large selection of 20th century first editions. A collector's haven.

The Winding Stair. A match made in Heaven: a bookshop and a coffee shop rolled into one in a tumbledown old building on several levels. Unfortunately, they don't encourage you to take the (unpurchased) books to the coffee table, which should be the whole point of the thing, but this is still the sort of place which makes me feel like a student again. You'll find the Winding Stair just beside the Ha'penny Bridge on the North quays.

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